Armored Core: Justiciar
by TeamTallTale
Summary: A horror story set in the Armored Core: Last Raven universe, 5 yrs post-Zinaida Ending. An aspiring young Raven must come face to face with a terrible threat and right the wrongs of humanity across the endless sands of time. He is aided by a mysterious Raven and a spirited young pilot; who, like him... was chosen for a great destiny. Violence, negligible gore. Very serious.
1. Chapter 1

Armored Core: Justiciar

1383 Kurara Way, home to Raven liaison officer Miozuki Iruka… five years after the events of the cataclysm and the Internecine event in which an undisclosed Raven brought the conflict between Vertex and Alliance to a halt; the Raven order is flourishing under this new found peace as various factions and independent warlord groups gain momentum and vie for power. Alliance, having grown in might, toppled under the weight of its own beaurocracy and in-fighting; in turn giving rise to an edge for the Kisaragi loyalists to reform Kisaragi and take dominance in corporate power. Mirage and Crest in the wake of financial insolubility merged to stand as Axiom Industries. It is now a more orderly time as corporations vie and struggle for power and the Raven order flourishes. It is just as the days of old, but, as Miozuki and a select few Ravens will soon find out… even the days of old we're haunted by the demons of ages past…

Versurs Highlands, 02:00 AM

Operation Code: 16-56-36-0

Mission Callsign: Clipped Wings

Conditions: Fog

Recommend Raven Rank: S

Estimated Success Rate: 0%

* * *

Junkyard was a promising young Raven who was easily the quickest ever to have attained the prestigious S-Rank. He had been approached with this mission by Kisaragi, a now powerful and prominent corporation who had promised a lavish reward upon completion. He had signed the deal, despite the warnings of unknown and definitely powerful opposition. But, now faced with this final briefing, he contacted his liaison officer briefly as the Cranwell Transport Helicopter's powerful twin-rotors drew him relentlessly to the target area. "Miss Miozuki, could I have a word?" Miozuki Iruka was at her desk when the call came in. She patched his cockpit feed through to her desk camera and asked, "What's the problem, Junkyard?"

Junkyard wasn't overtly frazzled to her, but he seemed keen to know why any assignment had a '0%' Success Estimate. Miozuki called up the profile and was a little shocked herself. "I'm going to patch into your optics feed. Give me a good look Junkyard. You said it was Kisaragi who sold you the contract?" Junkyard nodded as he flipped a few switches on his optics board, saying, "Affirmative, ma'am. Is there anyone else on call I could get to… in case things get, you know, ugly?" Miozuki shook her head as she saw all her other clients were currently on assignment. She replied, "You're flying solo, Raven. We'll send anyone over as soon as we get a squawk though."

Junkyard's grip on his analogs grew tighter and his knuckles turned white as he said, "Right. I'm over the target area. Stand by for AC Drop." The Cranwell locked its altitude and released the magnetic locks on the large, nearly 3-ton walking tank with rocket boosters that was the Armored Core fighting unit. His system sprang to life and began to chirrup and report, "FCS Online, Main System Online, Ambient Temperature 12 degrees Celsius, Combat Mode Engaged." And with a glow of rust colored optics, the cameras in the robot's head focused on the hilly expanse of the green Versurs Highland. He engaged the boost system and began rabbit-hopping the sixty foot machine at 300+ kmp/h. The sun shone dimly through the fog, casting odd shadows and eerie silhouettes on the sparse trees and mired hillocks.

"Scope is clean, anything on your end, ma'am?" Miozuki switched to a satellite feed and initiated a thermal scan of Junkyard's general position. It came back clean for a few sweeps, so she transmitted, "Thermal is good, Junkyard. Is there anything on your radar?" Junkyard checked his heads up display, bringing the high-end Head part's radar into a bigger focus to examine better. Junkyard had invested in a good Head; one of the four Armoring components of the Armored Core unit. He also put much stock in good Core type parts; these parts being the housing for the pilot, and the Fire-Control System (FCS for short) that allowed weapon functions. Junkyard favored EO type Cores, a type of core with built in weapons that followed the AC around whilst hovering mid-air.

Junkyard saw nothing on his radar either and flicked it back into the corner of his display with a push of the button. For a moment, nothing really happened. Junkyard's AC, "Scrapheap" stood alone in the highlands as a cloud broke and the sun shone down cleanly on the face of his unit. Miozuki squinted at the thermal scan a bit more before slightly relaxing and turning around to sever the feed. As she did so, a small thermal convection formed in the troposphere over the Versurs Highland. She turned and looked back at the screen remarking, "That's odd. Junkyard, what's going on over there? Report." Junkyard looked around at the fields, and finally up at the storm clouds coming fast over the horizon. He smiled, and replied, "Just a little rain ma'am. I think I'll be okay." But Miozuki wasn't so sure… because in the time he took to transmit that the radio noise in the area had rose high enough to cut his communications off from her and the temperature in the troposphere was spiking to an abnormal height for such a localized event.

Junkyard saw the clouds blackening, but that wasn't what scared him. What scared him was his ambient thermometer was spiking at the same time as the fire that was forming in the clouds… at the same time that Miss Miozuki went silent and the radio whiteout took her place. Junkyard raised his Right Arm Weapon and scanned for targets, he had come too far in life to be scared of fireworks. Right and Left Arm Weapons had many varieties for AC units; from laser swords to bazookas, and everything you could think of. Scrapheap was armed today with an energy blade and a double shot laser rifle. Pilots could change their weapon load-outs to suit different missions, but Junkyard had a rather limited supply of funds; and therefore options.

The grass began to scorch a little before the ECM level knocked out his radar. Even his FCS was beginning to fade in and out as the magnetic storm peaked. He turned all around, and swore he saw something off to the right, to which he immediately armed his Back Unit Missile Launcher and took aim. The unit locked onto something and he pulled the trigger. A compact warhead fired from his Back Unit and smacked unceremoniously into the dirt. He followed this weird target which never seemed to present itself well; and unloaded two more missiles before he gave up and resumed scanning. Back Units like the kind on "Scrapheap" are usually missile launchers, rocket launchers, or powerful radars… typically. But, there were also powerful cannons that ACs would utilize to great effect. Junkyard did not have any of these.

Miozuki watched as the temperature spike and magnetic storm passed. Junkyard was already breathing his relief at her… but, she was holding her breath in fear. The satellite scan had just registered an unidentified AC approaching Junkyard at 600+ kmp/h; an unheard of rate. She ran to her desk and ran an identification algorithm to find the AC. She never heard what happened next as the camera in Scrapheap witnessed the horror that was to unfold. AC Scrapheap fired up her thrusters as the unidentified AC approached, her pilot determined to defeat this enigmatic foe. Finally Miozuki sent him a name, "AC Rukara detected. Pilot status unknown, please standby for more intel."

Junkyard's eyes widened as the AC stopped at a dime to face him. It was simply impossible that anything like that could walk, never mind move so fast. He attempted to hail the AC, but he could only hear strange ghostly noises in return. He was suddenly transfixed by the sounds, like mournful birds and weeping women and whispering children and giggling lunatics all at once. Suddenly a premonition of great danger eclipsed him… and he raised his gun and fired. However, the enemy AC walked through the dual laser burst with equanimity. He jumped into the air and boosted back, wild eyed and shrieking in complete terror. Miozuki stood frozen as the live communication feed filled her office with Junkyard's final hours. He begged, pleaded, shrieked, sobbed, and jeered. One moment he would be gallantly resisting only to be blubbering for his life the next. He unleashed a salvo of four missiles, and continued to empty his laser rifle as he landed a distance away. The resulting fireball burned and smoked for a minute, a ray of hope dashed in seconds as the thrusters of Rukara burned to life and cleared the dust away into a fiery charge.

Junkyard went berserk and began back boosting as fast as he could. He engaged his energy blade again and again, helplessly and in a panic. The Generator and Radiator parts of his AC… its very heart, beat energy and fluids into his overheating and dying mech. It was as if man and machine were locked in their mortal fear of perishing together. The Generator gave up second as the Radiator overheated and began sucking the life out of its counterpart. Suddenly the boosters, the wings of all Ravens went dim and the Generator, Scrapheap's very heart; as if to save her doomed pilot went into emergency charge, but to no avail. Rukara closed the gap and Miozuki's eyes widened and her throat caught in a muffled scream as a gaping black maw projected from the "AC" and… ate Junkyard?

At the point of connection all that was left was Junkyard's piercing, pitiful cry of death and fear burned into Miozuki's mind forever and the contradicting silence of the sterile green words on her desk monitor, "Signal Lost" on an anti-climactic black standard. She stood there for hours and stared at it, too nauseous to move, and too scared to vomit. Night fell with her standing there… the phone rang, cars passed. Everything seemed surreal until the phone rang at 23:08pm and a man from Kisaragi left a message saying they wanted info regarding the mission that had just occurred in the Versurs Highland. At this she regained enough of her nerve to sit, and yelled in pain from her stiff muscles. She stretched, and as she felt the waves of relaxation go over her, she looked around at her dark office and felt an ominous presence… like eyes watching her.

She began to grip the chair harder, and eventually ran blindly to the light switch. She was crying as the light came on, she fell to her knees and sobbed. She had watched Ravens die before… but, never, never like that. It wasn't that he died; it was that he suffered. And for the life of her she wondered what had killed him. What was that ominous black maw that had snuffed him out, and caused a hardened soldier to weep like a little toddler? It had rattled her, moved her, and now she was crying hysterical for the horror of the reality that such things could exist. Kisaragi's call had made the mind numbing experience all too real. She needed answers, and she knew a man who might just have them. He was an enigmatic man, a specter from days gone by… a hero of the ages; Element Neo.


	2. Chapter 2

**Daybreak, AC Garage 113A7-2**

**Raven's Fold District, New Haven Precinct**

**Circ City**

** Raven Class D Ardent stood smiling at the gentle summer breeze in the only area of Circ City that was exposed to the outside. It was relatively new, made for the equally new Raven's Fold Group LLC. He turned proudly to see the **_**Useful Bird VIII**_** the first of her generation to succeed a mission. They just took Raven Rank D, and felt great about it. Someone was playing serene music in the background, until his annoying roommate Vendetta blared out bawling metal music from his hangar next door. Ardent had just switched over to Nu-Type controls, but Vendetta had risen to the C-Ranks already as a veteran Nu-Type Pilot. Ardent fiddled with his cross for a while, all day it seemed itchy and burning against his skin. Meanwhile Vendetta; with his over-sized headphones and his over-sized, over-emphasized everything, was tinkering with his AC's Arm Parts. Vendetta had a Weapon Arm AC, called **_**VolBeat**_** that utilized integrated Laser Swords and powerful Back Units to bring down its foes. AC's were defined by their Armoring Components, Cores and Arms and Legs in general were measured out to different weight-classes. There were also special kinds of legs and arms like Quad-Legs or Weapon Arms. There were even Tank and Hovering Legs.**

**Ardent had a bread and butter middle-weight that stood like a human and used human-like arms. But, Vendetta's mech used fancy weapon arms and mixed light-weight cores and heads with middle-weight legs that had a reverse-jointed composition. The difference was Ardent had failed often, but walked away from every wreck, using stable and tried platforms. Vendetta gambled his life with every mission. The two were as opposite as opposite could be, but among the dislike was a deep respect. Vendetta felt his death was inevitable, he believed Ardent was supernatural somehow to have survived so many failures. He always talked of some God and an underground Radio station that Vendetta secretly listened to, but never acted on.**

**Ardent loved Vendetta, he was really everything he wanted to be as a Raven, kind of like a hero. He wasn't sure how to express it, and as Vendetta was usually an ass, or ignorant to the point of asinine fatuity, often Ardent was left usually wanting to hit him. Today was different though… today they had been assigned a mission together. Also, if they succeeded, Ardent would jump to the C Rank! He was excited, but Vendetta was less so. This was a high profile mission set for S-Rank Ravens. It would take him to the A-Rank literally overnight, but he was nervous to fail. It was in the Garav Desert, a deadly environment with the near certain guarantee of death in the event of a disabled AC. Frequent magnetic storms often rendered an SOS call useless, whilst scorching heat and trackless oceans of sand would bewilder even the most ardent survivor. And the true nature of the mission was only disclosed to Vendetta; he was to engage and destroy Ardent.**

**He felt bad, he had kind of hoped he would get to know Ardent better, and he even wondered if Ardent might somehow survive. The mission launched in one half of an hour, and Vendetta had just finished installing his PRIMER component that would give his laser swords more juice. Ardent came over to him beaming and excited. "Vendetta, I'm sorry I haven't said it before, but I really look up to you. Thanks for partnering with me. I'll owe you one for sure, if you ever need me, hit me up on the radio. You have my comm code, I'll be there in a blink. Finally I'm doing it! I've tried so hard, it's finally coming together. I can't wait to show you everything I've learned!" He walked away practically bouncing, and Vendetta felt horrible. If there was a God, he would probably kill Vendetta… if this God had any sense of decency at least.**

**The sun was rising to a crisp noon as they geared up for the trip in Normal Mode to the Garav Desert. No transport was given as for some reason the mission was closed in secrecy. It made Vendetta wonder just who Ardent might be. Was he really some super-powerful Raven? He had heard rumors of Dominants, Ravens who could beat anyone by sheer talent. Was he a Plus Pilot, gifted with supernatural abilities due to genetic experiments? It was a mystery to Vendetta, he couldn't figure out why Kisaragi wanted him dead.**

**They set off at 200 kmp/h in Normal Mode, an AC mode designed to save energy for long distance travel using the boosters. When they arrived at the desert, Ardent stopped, but Vendetta swung around to face him. His only communication before engaging Combat Mode was, "I've been contracted to kill you, I'm sorry." Ardent was shocked and hurt at first, until he powered up and replied, "It's okay. We're Ravens, I forgive you. It's the nature of our work." **

**Vendetta charged his Overboost and prepared to make quick work of the **_**Useful Bird VIII**_**, but Ardent dropped his rifle and sword and deployed double revolver-style handguns. He back boosted to give **_**VolBeat**_** a cushion, and as soon as Vendetta made to slash him, he feigned and dodged; emptying rounds into his AC. Vendetta was amazed, he flew like a genius. Without the weight, **_**Useful Bird VIII**_** was as fast and maneuverable as **_**VolBeat**_** and twice as hard hitting with its guns. He back boosted more as Vendetta twisted and corrected, only to be smacked in the face by Ardent's missile launcher. He boosted at Ardent again, zig-zagging to throw off his evasion. But, Ardent was still full of more surprises as he boosted high into the air and unleashed a flurry of contact bombs all over Vendetta's head. He turned midair and landed into the bunny hopping strafing motion of a seasoned Raven while he unloaded the rest of his pistols.**

**The fight intensified as Vendetta began unloading shotgun cannon rounds into Ardent using Overboost techniques to get around **_**Useful Bird's**_** now even more improved mobility. Ardent's Missiles weren't connecting now as he had dropped the pistols and went for broke, and Vendetta was systematically closing the gap. He lulled Vendetta into a sword rush and promptly back boosted to spray him with contact bombs again, but this time at a price… **_**Useful Bird**_** lost both of its arms. He tried the ploy again and the blades connected with his Core, dealing heavy damage and mangling the boost system. Ardent got airborne and began connecting with his missile launcher again, until he scored a hit on Vendetta's leg parts and arms, crippling him. Vendetta looked down the barrel of the launcher… only to watch the spent unit be discarded from his opponent's AC. Surprisingly, they drew…**

**Without much ceremony, both of the dubious Ravens began to laugh. They would die here, together. Both ACs had suffered sufficient trauma that escape was impossible. **_**VolBeat **_**had crippled legs and unbeknownst to Ardent, Vendetta's Generator was on the fritz from the first missile salvo. Ardent's booster unit would not engage to normal mode, and he would die of thirst before he escaped the massive and unforgiving expanse of the Garav Desert. There was now amid what was hatred of a sort, a brotherhood, a mutual bond. A plane flew overhead, and Ardent looked up hopefully and hailed it, but it remained silent… "Who could that be?" He wondered aloud. Vendetta replied tartly, "An asshat in an aeroplane?"**

** Meanwhile, aboard the suspicious airplane…**

** Miozuki Iruka surveyed the carnage wondering if the leads Neo had given her were true. Apparently Rukara was some form of entity which fed off of and manifested near negative energy and especially war. According to Neo's intel, Kisaragi had consigned these pilots to death as a co-ordinated set of five sortie's. His… what did he call them? "Prophet Team." She muttered to herself, it seemed a ridiculous name. The scope of the enterprise was to see if Rukara would nibble the bait. Neo had his team monitoring each battle, and according to thermal scans, the Garav Desert Op was the prime location with a huge thermal spike. Oddly enough, it was now stratospheric in nature. Only the plane was riding in the magnetic blanket. Truthfully they hadn't heard the cry for help…**

** They lowered their altitude and hailed the ACs in question. The pilots were more than happy to see them. Suddenly the weather changed again, the troposphere suddenly began inducing cold temperature spikes whilst the stratosphere began creating a high-temperature corona. Ardent looked up at the sky, and it looked queer to him… like fire way up in the heavens. Frost began forming on the wings of the aircraft and the ACs below. Vendetta shivered and chuckled saying, "Hell got mighty cold… we might make it yet." But in truth, Hell had not yet come to see them… not yet.**

** An odd mist rose from the sand as vapors of rapidly convecting ice and steam began swirling in an inexplicably tumultuous and rising wind. No one's radar was working except Miozuki's and she ordered the science officer on the plane, a research plane with various instruments for measuring various stimuli, to use the plane's long range and powerful hyper-parabolic radio array to open a direct feed to those two hapless pilots down below.**

** Ardent, his AC's legs still functional, paced around a bit, scanning with night vision to see if anything was around. Vendetta's AC, though immobile, still had its head on a swivel, his dedicated high-end Radar straining for any signal he could get. A low rumble erupted from seemingly thin air… followed by a groan like stressed metal under strain. Vendetta was seized by an intangible specter of fear, and commed, "Ardent… did you feel that?" His blood ran like ice, and suddenly the air seemed to frost the edges of his heads up. His breath came in puffs of steam and fogged his cockpit display. The tubes that funneled vital fluids to his radiator began to drip with condensation as the mech strained to heat its pilot. Ardent brought up his ambient temperature sensor, it read -30 degrees Celsius… they were lucky to still be alive and if the temperature dropped much more, then they were doomed. **

**Ardent raised his audio feed and listened to the wind. It was an enchanting sound, the groaning and rumbling was given to an ensemble of other sounds building into an eerie crescendo. A violent growl added its voice to what seemed like birdsong in the very wind. A faint and whispering laugh seemed to penetrate the cacophony like a steel dagger into the heart of a jealous lover. Moaning and caterwauling under toned this wind that seemed all too alive, and as the smoke rose from the dust of the Earth a shadowy figured appeared silently on the horizon. Vendetta's Radar saw it first, and he fixed his optics on it in horror as its shimmery silhouette dominated the very presence of the Desert turned tundra that was now the battlefield. The radio noise suddenly spiked even before Miozuki could warn them, and Ardent didn't see the figure until he tried to raise Vendetta and realized they had entered a radio blackout.**

**Miozuki hollered at the science officer, "What's wrong? That array is the finest Mirage technology! Raise them immediately!" The pilot suddenly banked off, and Miozuki turned lividly at him and spat, "We're abandoning them?" The science officer stood calmly and said, "The ECM level is off my charts, and the plane is freezing rapidly. We can't operate the generators at this temperature, the components are seizing. We have to go miss; we bought you all the time we could." Miozuki opened and closed her mouth a few times in mute indecision, then silently went to her chair with an exasperated and defeat demeanor.**

**Ardent finally caught the silhouette in the distance and began to wonder who it was. Also, he noticed their air support was abandoning them. Hopelessness settled in his heart, and he sat back and let the waves of defeat wash over him as an AC of unidentified origin came into view. Ardent watched with dogged determination; he would face his destroyer with an even keel, if only for defiance. Vendetta closed his eyes, suddenly realizing with tangibly revulsive finality that he was mortally afraid to die. Ardent sat up rigid as the unidentified AC approached and suddenly felt an inexpressible feeling of peace and courage. He was beginning to suffer hypothermia, and so was Vendetta. Vendetta felt the malice off of this… was it even an AC? Its schematic was impossible; too heavy, too much stuff to move… too, everything. His body shook in fear and bitter cold as it came inches off of **_**VolBeat**_** and seemed to just ooze a feeling of death and dismay into his cockpit. His eyes grew wide and he didn't even see the gaping black maw open up before him. All he saw were people, sad contorted faces and spiteful, impossibly disfigured people; rotten and fetid, trying to claw him in to a black nothing that felt like the very opposite of all things good in life. **

**He screamed and thrashed, fighting for his life until suddenly it all cleared and **_**Useful Bird VIII**_** came bull-rushing the unidentified AC to the side. Ardent had seen the maw, and having stared Death in the face one too many times before, decided he wasn't so scared of it after all. Vendetta watched several things happen at once. The unidentified AC opened its maw again to take Ardent, and suddenly the hellish horror entered **_**Useful Bird's**_** cockpit. Ardent screamed, "Come on you bastard from another world! I'll take you to Hell with me!" He reached out to punch the nearest horror, only for a third pilot to enter the fray. Ardent's vision cleared to a gleaming and sheer white AC blading at the maw as the thing shrieked like a banshee with a spear in its side. The mystery AC swooped over to **_**VolBeat**_** and **_**Useful Bird**_** and flashed his boosters to heat their ACs. Ardent felt warmth seep into his cockpit, warming his body and filling him with hope and for Vendetta, he could not help but to suddenly gussy up and whoop for their literal knight in shining armor… white horse and all.**

** The unknown Raven flared his jets brighter in challenge to his worthy opponent. The foe shrieked still more loudly, its maw gaping bigger like a twisted and evil dragon. The pilot rushed his nemesis again, and his blade clashed with the terror, its maw sending out flashes of light and sparks as the Raven's blade, the heirloom weapon of the Raven Order, stayed its mortal foe. The pilot and the foe broke and circled, the Raven just barely fast enough to turn with his opponent, plugging away with his rifle, the bread and butter of the Ravens of old. The monster stopped and bayed a horrific, gnashing cry of hatred, and seizing his moment the sturdy Raven clad in white emptied a salvo of missiles into its face. As the five warheads engulfed its chassis in fire, the Raven waited like a sentinel, even seeming to know his foe had not died. The dust and smoke cleared, and the foe stepped forward for a moment, only to be met with the Raven stepping forth sword raised in challenge.**

** The unidentified AC seemed to respect this worthy challenger for a moment, then gave a lamenting cry and burst off into the distance at its unheard of 600+ kmp/h. The weather broke, and the ice began to melt. The sun shined on the Garav Desert just as before and the radio noise cleared. Miozuki Iruka, who had sent this mysterious paladin watched anxiously from the safe zone of the event horizon and hailed her champion, "Neo? Are they alive?" Ardent and Vendetta heard the transmission as well, transmitted on a general frequency that Ardent and Vendetta had happened to be chatting on before they went dark and Hell showed up on their doorstep. This paragon of pilots, this legend among Ravens, this, 'Neo' replied, "We're okay, miss. I got here in the nick of time. These pilots have promise, I want their help in this, 'No' is not an acceptable answer. Neo out."**

** He then hailed Ardent and Vendetta on a private channel, and when they had opened to it, he said more formally, "I am Element Neo. I am an agent of change. This is my AC **_**Redemption**_**. Don't think I'll bail you out all the time. I'm very old, and not really cut out for this anymore. Expect to hear from me again, and if you refuse, I'll find you. The world is about to end all over again, it was no accident that this thing chose you. It's called Rukara, and it picked you. Therefore I pick you. A rescue team is in bound, I will contact you in one calendar week. Expect a transfer of funds in the next 24 hours. Be ready, buy what you need, train. Farewell." And with that a Cranwell Transport copter showed up and rescued them as this mysterious Raven darted off into a sandstorm.**

**-Author's Note-**

**The names of the AC's are being italicized for easier story flow.**


End file.
